US-UK relations

British ambassador: US stands closest to Israel

The term “special relationship” has been used to describe the relationship between the US and the UK since the time of Winston Churchill – but Christian Turner, the UK’s ambassador to the US, is putting a stop to it.

“I think there is only one country that has a special relationship with the US, and that is probably Israel,” he says in an audio recording obtained by the Financial Times.

The statement was made in February, shortly after Turner took office, during an event for British students visiting Washington. The FT writes that it “risks embarrassing” King Charles during his ongoing state visit to the US.

Turner also calls it “extraordinary” that the Epstein affair has sunk a British prince (Andrew) and an ambassador (Peter Mandelson), while “hardly touching anyone” in the US.

 
Trump to the King: “Your accent is beautiful – Mom thought you were handsome”

Donald Trump today gave a rousing speech about King Charles at a military ceremony in Washington DC attended by himself, his wife Melania and the British royal couple.

First he joked that it was a “beautiful British day”, referring to the overcast weather, and then he addressed King Charles’ upcoming speech to Congress. There, the king will “make everyone very jealous with his beautiful accent”, the president said.

He also added that his mother Mary Anne Trump, who died in 2000, used to talk about how handsome she thought the then crown prince was.

Trump praised the historic bond between the two countries in the speech.

– In the centuries of our independence, the United States has never had any closer friends than the British, he said.